In December 2015, I had a conversation with my dear friend
and fellow ELA educator Sarah Crichley (@Scrichley).
(She’s one of my favorite people with whom I collaborate.
When we discuss ELA, the ideas fly.)
I can’t find our exact text conversation, but it went
something like this:
Sarah:
Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a place where teachers could share lesson plans.
Me: Hmmm,
let me think about that. I think we could actually make that happen.
Then I drove from Tulsa to OKC with the wheels of my brain
furiously churning. To use another analogy: I kept opening new tabs in my brain
as the ideas came and exploring their feasibility. Of course, that’s how my
mind works all the time. I am an INTJ—for better and
worse.
I decided on a Google Site because I’m familiar with them,
and they’re so easy to use. I know Sites has a “filing cabinet” page setting,
where you can add text and upload documents. I knew I would need something fast
for me and simple to use for all teachers.
So, I started a Site, and immediately created a separate
page for each grade, pre-K through 12th. My plan is to have a brief
introduction/overview for each grade level. I need to make contact with more
elementary and middle school teachers to bring that part of my vision into
reality. I reached out to a few, but I’m afraid my email may have gone straight
to their junk folders.
Once that took shape, I decided each of those pages needed
sub-pages for the virtual filing cabinets. (I love folders and sub-folders and
sub-sub-folders…organization gives me a thrill.) I also added a separate sub-page
at each grade for pre-AP. AP Language and Composition and AP Literature and
Composition have separate pages rather than being sub-pages.
From there, I began gathering a team of ELA educators who
could/would help me. Of course, I first pulled from my tweeps. I knew these
would be people who felt comfortable with technology and who had a passion for
education.
Next, I researched some lesson plan templates to find
something we could use for all submissions. After I looked at what others were
doing, I decided on key components and sent the template to my team for
feedback. I also asked them for feedback on the rough site.
Then, oklaed reached a sitzkrieg
with OK’s jack*ss legislators while we impatiently waited for them to approve
the standards. Of course they were going to pass the standards, but, tiny baby
Jesus, they sure threw up red herrings, pseudo-roadblocks, and beat the dead
horse of their fake issues into jerky and glue. I think they focused on every
little stupid thing they could to detract from the real issues: the defunding
and dismantling of all infrastructures in our state.
Once OAS was finally approved, I could begin putting
together “exemplar” lessons. Unfortunately, the craziest part of the school
year happens at the end of February till May. I stayed behind on grading and
developing the website; however, I did have another brilliant idea (well, I
think it’s brilliant): adding pages for Fine Arts. My music teacher friends use
analysis and “ELA” techniques in their classes. The marriage made sense.
Over the new few weeks, the ideas continued to hit me:
adding Creative Writing, Reading for Pleasure, Journalism, Speech/Debate, and
Yearbook. Lastly, I approached a school librarian about adding Media Literacy.
So, I guess the marriage turned into an ELA harem.
My final addition came from Lara Searcy (@MrsSearcy112) who
works with pre-service ELA teachers at Northeastern State University. We
thought it would be helpful for some of her baby teachers to post units they’ve
put together for school. It gives them another audience and provides some
seriously detailed lessons for career teachers.
Now, I am ready to unveil the website and begin taking
submissions: https://sites.google.com/site/elaokpln/
This will obviously be a work in progress. It is tiny right
now, but my vision is to have a repository of lesson plans geared toward the
Oklahoma Academic Standards. I have already uploaded some lessons for 8th-10th
pre-AP. I have also written some intros for 8th-12th.
I have included pages for testing info and test prep ideas
for each grade band. I also thought it would be helpful to include links to
each grade’s standards. On the “Vertical Alignment” page, I have a link to all
the standards and a couple of documents to help if your district is working
toward alignment.
The lessons will fall under the Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. No
selling the lessons (even though we all deserve over-time pay for the hours we
spend on lessons). This is teachers helping other teachers do what we do best:
teach.
I want to publicly thank Claudia Swisher (@ClaudiaSwisher,
ELA Mafia Godmother) for her introduction to Reading for Pleasure: https://sites.google.com/site/elaokpln/reading-for-pleasure
Thank you, Jason Stephenson (@teacherman82), for your intro
to Creative Writing: https://sites.google.com/site/elaokpln/creative-writing
Thank you, Tara Zimmerman (@Tara_Hixson), for your intro to
Media Literacy: https://sites.google.com/site/elaokpln/media-literacy
Thank you to my team of editors:
Sarah
Crichley
Kimberly
Blodgett (@KimberBlodgett)
Michelle
Waters (@watersenglish)
Shanna
Mellott (@lsmellott)
Meghan Loyd
(@meghanloyd)
Claudia
Swisher
I also need to thank a couple students who took pictures I
could use for the website: Camrynn Cooke and Hannah Pitts. Camrynn’s are on the
“Home” page and were taken in OKC. Hannah’s is of the lovely Library of
Congress and is on the “11th Grade” page.
Ultimately, I hope Oklahoma teachers see this labor of love
(and blood, toil, tears, and sweat) and find it to be a helpful resource. I did
not have a lot of mentor teachers along my path, but I have always had teachers
say I could raid their filing cabinets (virtual and actual). In that spirit of
generosity, I give you the ELAOK PLN lesson repository website.
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